Let's Grow Dahlias!

 

Let’s grow Dahlias! by Claire C.

Dahlia’s are a wonderfully strong, colourful, showy plant that are great for cutting.   There are over 50,000 varieties within about 40 species, with 15 recognized colours.  

Fall  October - November 

If you still have dahlias blooming in your garden - great! but they will soon die down with the first frost.

Now is a good time to either: 

1. Cut down the stocks and leave the tubers in the ground with as much mulch as you can on top and keep your fingers

crossed for a winter that isn’t too wet and freezing.  

Dahlias tubers don’t like being wet and if they freeze they will die.  

2.  If you’d like to save some of the tubers from your plants now is the time to dig them up, wash them off, divide them, and store them. 

You are likely to have between 6-10 tubers from each of your plants.   

There is a lot of information on how grow, dig, and store dahlias and I’ll reference my two favourite websites for complete directions.  

Floretflowers.com offers a free fall mini course on digging, dividing, and storing dahlias.  This is a free course but you have to register.  Click on the banner near the top of their website to watch the videos.  

The American Dahlia Society also offers a ton of information on all aspects of growing dahlias. The Dahlia University section is great for viewing various topics of interest.   

Spring March-May

I usually wake up my stored tubers early April.  If I see an eye growing on the crown I plant them in small to medium pots with good soil until they are ready to plant out in the garden about mid May.  Dahlias like to be planted out roughly when your tomatoes do and for our areas and "never before the snow is gone from Mt. Benson." (according to a seasoned grower). 

Generally a a water soluble or granular fertilizer or one with a higher nitrogen number can be used until mid summer when the nitrogen should be minimized.  

Dahlias are not the favourite food of deer but they are definitely NOT deer proof.  I keep most of mine behind a fence but I also have some in unfenced areas in our yard.   

If you’d like to buy dahlia tubers from growers in the Nanaimo area the Nanaimo Gladiolus and Dahlia Society has a tuber sale near the end of April at Country Club Mall.  When the date has been finalized I will post to the ProIsle Group and you are welcome to contact me there by email for more information.  

In closing I’d like to thank all of you who have bought dahlias from my stand.  I will continue to do this to raise funds for our local food bank - Loaves and Fishes.  

Happy growing - Claire C.